Wadinoon or Wednoon, was the first place at which Adams had seen
houses after he quitted Tudenny. It is a small town, consisting of
about forty houses and some tents. The former are built chiefly of
clay, intermixed with stone in some parts, and several of them have a
story above the ground-floor. The soil in the neighbourhood of the
town was better cultivated than any he had yet seen in Africa, and
appeared to produce plenty of corn and tobacco. There were also date
and fig trees in the vicinity, as well as a few grapes, apples,
pears, and pomegranates. Prickly pears flourished in great abundance.
The Christians whom Adams had heard of, whilst residing at Hieta
Mouessa Ali, and whom he found at Wadinoon, proved to be, to his
great satisfaction, his old companions, Stephen Dolbie the mate, and
James Davison and Thomas Williams, two of the seamen of the Charles.
They informed him, that they had been in that town upwards of twelve
months, and that they were the property of the sons of the governor.
Soon after the arrival of Adams at Wadinoon, Abdallah offered him for
sale to the governor or sheik, called Amedallah Salem, who consented
to take him upon trial; but after remaining a week at the governor's
house, Adams was returned to his old master, as the parties could not
agree upon the price. He was at length, however, sold to Belcassam
Abdallah for seventy dollars in trade, payable in blankets,
gunpowder, and dates.
The only other white resident at Wadinoon was a Frenchman, who
informed Adams that he had been wrecked about twelve years before on
the neighbouring coast, and that the whole of the crew, except
himself, had been redeemed. This man had turned Mahommedan, and was
named Absalom; he had a wife and child and three slaves, and gained a
good living by the manufacture of gunpowder. He lived in the same
house as the person who had been his master, and who, upon his
renouncing his religion, gave him his liberty.
Among the negro slaves at Wadinoon was a woman, who said she came
from a place called Kanno, (Cano?) a long way across the desert, and
that she had seen in her own country white men, as white as "bather,"
meaning the wall, and in a large boat, with two high sticks in it,
with cloth upon them, and that they rowed this boat in a manner
different from the custom of the negroes, who use paddles; in stating
this, she made the motion of rowing with oars, so as to leave no
doubt that she had seen a vessel in the European fashion, manned by
white people.
The work in which Adams was employed at Wadinoon, was building walls,
cutting down shrubs to make fences, or working on the corn lands, or
on the plantations of tobacco, of which a great quantity is grown in
the neighbourhood. It was in the month of August that he arrived
there, as he was told by the Frenchman before spoken of; the grain
had been gathered, but the tobacco was then getting in, at which he
was required to assist. His labour at this place was extremely
severe. On the moorish sabbath, which was also their market-day, the
Christian slaves were not required to labour, unless on extraordinary
occasions, when there was any particular work to do, which could not
be delayed. In these intervals of repose, they had opportunity of
meeting and conversing together, and Adams had the melancholy
consolation of finding that the lot of his companions had been even
more severe than his own. It appeared that, on their arrival, the
Frenchman before mentioned, from some unexplained motive, had advised
them to refuse to work, and the consequence was, that they had been
cruelly beaten and punished, and had been made to work and live hard,
their only scanty food being barley flour and indian corn flour.
However, on extraordinary occasions, and as a great indulgence, they
sometimes obtained a few dates.
In this wretched manner Adams and his fellow-captives lived until the
June following, when a circumstance occurred, which had nearly cost
the former his life. His master's son, Hameda Bel Cossim, having one
sabbath-day ordered Adams to take the horse and go to plough, the
latter refused to obey him, urging that it was not the custom of any
slaves to work on the sabbath-day, and that he was entitled to the
same indulgence as the rest. Upon which Hameda went into the house
and fetched a cutlass, and then demanded of Adams, whether he would
go to plough or not. Upon his replying that he would not, Hameda
struck him on the forehead with the cutlass, and gave him a severe
wound over the right eye, and immediately knocked him down with his
fist. This was no sooner done, than Adams was set upon by a number of
Moors, who beat him with sticks in so violent a manner, that the
blood came out of his mouth, two of his double teeth were knocked
out, and he was almost killed; it was his opinion that they would
have entirely killed him, had it not been for the interference of
Boadick, the sheik's son, who reproached them for their cruelty,
declaring that they had no right to compel Adams to work on a
market-day. The next day Hameda's mother, named Moghtari, came to
him, and asked him how he dared to lift his hand against a Moor? To
which Adams, driven to desperation by the ill treatment he had
received, replied, that he would even take his life, if it were in
his power. Moghtari then said, that unless he would kiss Hameda's
hands and feet, he should be put in irons, which he peremptorily
refused to do. Soon after. Hameda's father came to Adams, and told
him, that unless he did kiss his son's feet and hands, he must be put
in irons. Adams then stated to him, that he could not submit to do
so; that it was contrary to his religion to kiss the hands and feet
of any person; that in his own country he had never been required to
do it; and that, whatever might be the consequence, he would not do
it. Finding he would not submit, the old man ordered that he should
be put in irons, and accordingly they fastened his feet together with
iron chains, and did the same by his hands. After he had remained in
this state about ten days, Moghtari came to him again, urging him to
do as required, and declaring that, if he did not, he should never
see the Christian country again. Adams, however, persevered in
turning a deaf ear to her entreaties and threats. Some time
afterwards, finding that confinement was destructive of his health,
Hameda came to him, and took the irons from his hands. The following
three weeks, he remained with the irons on his legs, during which
time, repeated and pressing entreaties, and the most dreadful threats
were used to induce him to submit; but all to no purpose. He was also
frequently advised by the mate and the other Christians, who used to
be sent to him, for the purpose of persuading him to submit, as he
must otherwise inevitably lose his life. At length, finding that
neither threats nor entreaties would avail, and Adams having remained
in irons from June to the beginning of August, and his sufferings
having reduced him almost to a skeleton, his master was advised to
sell him; for, if longer confined, he would certainly die, and
thereby prove a total loss. Influenced by this consideration, his
master at last determined to release him from his confinement; but,
although very weak, the moment he was liberated, he was set to
gathering in the corn.
About a week afterwards, Dolbie, the mate, fell sick. Adams had
called to see him, when Dolbie's master, named Brahim, a son of the
sheik, ordered him to get up and go to work, and upon Dolbie
declaring that he was unable, Brahim beat him with a stick, to compel
him to go; but as he still did not obey, Brahim threatened that he
would kill him; and upon Dolbie's replying, that he had better do so
at once than kill him by inches, Brahim stabbed him in the side with
his dagger, and he died in a few minutes. As soon as he was dead, he
was taken by some slaves a short distance from the town, where a hole
was dug, into which he was thrown without ceremony. As the grave was
not deep, and as it frequently happened that corpses after burial
were dug out of the ground by the foxes, Adams and his two surviving
companions went the next day and covered the grave with stones.
As the Moors were constantly urging them to become Mahommedans, and
they were unceasingly treated with the greatest brutality, the
fortitude of Williams and Davison being exhausted, they at last
unhappily consented to renounce their religion, and were circumcised;
by this means they obtained their liberty, after which they were
presented with a horse, a musket, and a blanket each, and permitted
to marry; no Christian being allowed, at any place inhabited by
Moors, to take a wife, or to cohabit with a moorish woman.
As Adams was now the only remaining Christian at Wadinoon, he became
in a more especial manner an object of the derision and persecution
of the Moors, who were constantly upbraiding and reviling him, and
telling him that his soul would be lost, unless he became a
Mahommedan, insomuch that his life was becoming intolerable.
Mr. Dupuis, speaking of the conduct which Adams received from the
Moors, says, "I can easily believe Adams' statement of the brutal
treatment he experienced at Wadinoon. It is consistent with the
accounts I have always heard of the people of that country, who I
believe to be more bigoted and cruel than even the remoter
inhabitants of the desert. In the frequent instances which have come
under my observation, the general effect of the treatment of the
Arabs on the minds of the Christian captives, has been most
deplorable. On the first arrival of these unfortunate men at
Mogadore, if they have been any considerable time in slavery, they
appear lost to reason and feeling, their spirits broken, and their
whole faculties sunk in a species of stupor, which I am unable
adequately to describe. Habited like the meanest Arabs of the desert,
they appear degraded even below the negro slave. The succession of
hardships, which they endure, from the caprice and tyranny of their
purchasers, without any protecting law to which they can appeal for
alleviation or redress, seems to destroy every spring of exertion or
hope in their minds; they appear indifferent to every thing around
them; abject, servile, and brutified."
"Adams alone was, in some respects, an exception from this
description. I do not recollect any ransomed Christian slave, who
discovered a greater elasticity of spirit, or who sooner recovered
from the indifference and stupor here described."
It is to be remarked, that the Christian captives are invariably
worse treated than the idolatrous or pagan slaves, whom the Arabs,
either by theft or purchase, bring from the interior of Africa, and
that religious bigotry is the chief cause of this distinction. The
zealous disciples of Mahomet consider the negroes merely as ignorant,
unconverted beings, upon whom, by the act of enslaving them, they are
conferring a benefit, by placing them within reach of instruction in
"the true belief;" and the negroes, having no hopes of ransom, and
being often enslaved when children, are in general, soon converted to
the Mahommedan faith. The Christians, on the contrary, are looked
upon as hardened infidels, and as deliberate despisers of the
prophet's call; and as they in general steadfastly reject the
Mahommedan creed, and at least never embrace it, whilst they have
hopes of ransom; the Moslim, consistently with the spirit of many
passages in the Koran, views them with the bitterest hatred, and
treats them with every insult and cruelty which a merciless bigotry
can suggest.
It is not to be understood that the Christian slaves, though
generally ill treated and inhumanly worked by their Arab owners, are
persecuted by them ostensibly on account of their religion. They, on
the contrary, often encourage the Christians to resist the
importunities of those who wish to convert them; for, by embracing
Islamism, the Christian slave obtains his freedom, and however ardent
may be the zeal of the Arab to make proselytes, it seldom blinds him
to the calculations of self-interest.
Three days after Williams and Davison had renounced their religion, a
letter was received from Mr. Dupuis, addressed to the Christian
prisoners at Wadinoon, under cover to the governor, in which the
consul, after exhorting them most earnestly not to give up their
religion, whatever might befal them, assured them that within a
month, he should be able to procure their liberty. Davison heard the
letter read, apparently without emotion, but Williams became so
agitated that he let it drop out of his hands, and burst into a flood
of tears.
From this time, Adams experienced no particular ill treatment, but he
was required to work as usual. About a month more elapsed, when the
man who brought the letter, and who was a servant of the British
consul, disguised as a trader, made known to Adams that he had
succeeded in procuring his release, and the next day they set out
together for Mogadore.
On quitting Wadinoon, they proceeded in a northerly direction,
travelling on mules at the rate of thirty miles a day, and in fifteen
days arrived at Mogadore. Here Adams remained eight months with Mr.
Dupuis. America and England being then at war, it was found difficult
to procure for Adams a conveyance to his native country; he therefore
obtained a passage on board a vessel bound to Cadiz, where he
remained about fourteen months as servant or groom, in the service of
Mr. Hall, an English merchant there. Peace having been in the mean
time restored, Adams was informed by the American consul, that he had
now an opportunity of returning to his native country with a cartel,
or transport of American seamen, which was on the point of sailing
from Gibraltar. He accordingly proceeded thither, but arrived two
days after the vessel had sailed. Soon afterwards he engaged himself
on board a Welsh brig, lying at Gibraltar, in which he sailed to
Bilboa, whence the brig took a cargo of wool to Bristol, and after
discharging it there, was proceeding in ballast to Liverpool; but
having been driven into Holyhead by contrary winds, Adams there fell
sick, and was put on shore. From this place he begged his way up to
London, where he arrived completely destitute. He had slept two or
three nights in the open streets, when he was accidentally met by a
gentleman, who had seen him in Mr. Hall's service at Cadiz, and was
acquainted with his history, by whom he was directed to the office of
the African Association, through whose means his adventures were made
known to the public.
Adams may be said to have been the first Christian, who ever reached
the far-famed city of Timbuctoo, and it must be admitted that many
attempts were made to throw a positive degree of discredit upon his
narrative, and to consider it more the work of deep contrivance than
of actual experience. It is certain that many difficulties present
themselves in the narrative of Adams, which cannot be reconciled with
the discoveries subsequently made, but that cannot be argued as a
reason for invalidating the whole of his narrative; especially when
it is so amply and circumstantially confirmed by the inquiries which
were set on foot by Mr. Dupuis, at the instigation of the African
Association, and the result of which was, a complete confirmation of
all the circumstances, which Adams